1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to apparatus and methods for communication between a home network terminal microcomputer-based system and one or more computer networks providing information and financial and other services. The invention relates more particularly to apparatus and methods for conducting communications between a home computer system and a generally conventional computer network in an extremely simple manner, such that no knowledge of computer operations is necessary for the user of a home computer system to obtain information or perform financial and other transactions through the computer network.
2. Related Art
Developments in communications technology in the past decade have made it possible for consumers to access information stored on large computer systems through home microcomputers. It is well known that a home computer system can be used to communicate through standard telephone lines with large computer data bases storing such information as stock market statistics, airline flight schedules, and other useful consumer information.
However, there are several limitations to providing not only information services but also interactive financial services through a computer network to the home environment of the typical consumer. First, although technological advancements have created an unsurpassed standard of living for consumers in many aspects of everyday life, including communications, a corresponding limit on the level of consumer acceptance of technological innovations has arisen. Many consumers are reluctant to rely on technologically advanced devices which they cannot assimilate into the practices they have used previously and which they understand.
This consumer acceptance threshold has been encountered by home computer manufacturers who have experienced difficulty in convincing a substantial portion of the public of the advantages of having a home computer. In order to provide information services, and in particular relatively complex interactive financial services, in the home environment, the consumer must be convinced to incorporate some form of network terminal in his home. Typically, however, the steps necessary to establish communications between a home microcomputer and a remote computer data base require the consumer to have a familiar understanding of the home microcomputer. Although software packages are available that present a relatively "user-friendly" environment for the consumer to carry on network communications, a basic understanding of microcomputer operation is nevertheless required of the consumer. A majority of consumers do not have this fundamental knowledge, adding to consumer reluctance to use the technologically advanced products.
The microprocessor/telephone communication device disclosed in U.S. patent application Ser. Nos. 07/190,440 (Parekh et al.) and 260,832 (Weiss et al.), filed May 5, 1988, and Oct. 21, 1988 respectively, and in U.S. Pat. No. Des. 312,457 (from application Ser. No. 380,557) (Inatomi) filed Jul. 17, 1989, all of which are assigned to the assignee of the present application and are hereby incorporated by reference herein, provides a means for bringing technologically based services into the typical consumer's home despite consumer resistance to complex products. This breakthrough is accomplished by providing what is in reality a computer terminal resembling the familiar desktop telephone. The communication device of the invention provides easily understood information and instructions through a visual display "menu" to guide the user in using advanced telephone features and network services. The shift in emphasis from user-originated control to device-originated control in transactional operations assimilates the user into a technologically based marketplace of services which he would otherwise avoid.
Although a home terminal, such as the microprocessor/telephone of the Weiss et al. invention, provides the hardware necessary for network communications to the consumer in familiar form, the network communication methods available currently still present a technologically complicated procedure to the user of the home terminal. Those methods in the prior art which provide informational services to the consumer at home do so in a manner which requires some level of computer literacy on the part of the consumer user. Recognizing that this computer literacy requirement is a substantial impediment to bringing the technologically based informational and financial services to the general consumer, it is an object of the invention to provide a method for communicating between the home terminal and a computer network which controls communications so that the user need only read and respond to simple questions, that is, "prompts", presented on a display screen.
In the prior art, interactive communication methods have essentially provided only informational services to the home consumer. The necessary level of security, ease of use and reliable, quick information transmission required for a comparable home-based financial services system have not been achieved. Accordingly, it is another object of the present invention to provide financial services in addition to informational services to the consumer and in particular to provide a method of computer communication between the home terminal and a computer network so that the consumer can effect financial transactions through the system terminal in an easily understood fashion. For example, it is an object of the invention to provide a system whereby a user can determine his account balance, pay bills, transfer funds from one account to another, and the like, while in his home and in particular without requiring any computer literacy, and wherein the same system can be used to access other systems, such as databases, airline reservation systems, and the like.
Using current communication methods, communication between a home computer system and a computer network requires that the home computer system have a sufficient memory size to store application programs to control the communications. Each network, database, or the like to be accessed typically requires its own software, access codes, and related data which must be stored in the microcomputer memory. Accordingly, as more information and financial services are to be provided, the necessary application program memory requirement increases. At some point, the memory size requirement makes it impractical to place the home network terminal in the relatively small housing of a telephone. In particular, it is an object of the invention to avoid the requirement of a floppy disk or other bulky storage medium in the user terminal; if a physically larger computer system were used to accommodate the memory requirements, the advantage of consumer acceptance achieved by placing the microcomputer in a small housing with a limited number of keys made possible according to the Weiss et al. invention would be lost.
More particularly, it is desirable that the microcomputer necessary to carry out communication with the network computer be small enough to be integrated into a housing physically resembling that of a standard desktop telephone. The data storage capacity of such a miniature device is correspondingly small. Additionally, it is preferred to provide the consumer with as many various services as possible. Therefore, it is a further object of the invention to provide a method for providing required application programs from a network host computer to the user terminal as needed and in a rapid and efficient manner so that the consumer terminal can employ a plurality of application programs which could not be stored in a memory physically disposed within the telephone housing.
It is still another object of the invention to provide a method by which updated versions of the application programs can be downloaded to the microcomputer automatically each time the consumer connects to the network, thereby ensuring that out-of-date application programs are not used.